By Jennifer DeMoss
1 Corinthians 10:23 says (amplified version):
"All things are legitimate [permissible—and we are free to do anything we please], but not all things are helpful (expedient, profitable, and wholesome). All things are legitimate, but not all things are constructive [to character] and edifying [to spiritual life]."
I have been reading this verse for so many years, thanks to Lysa Terkeurst and her Made to Crave series. But, for some reason, it never fully clicked with me.
I've been taking this amazing nutrition and eating psychology course through my friend Audra, and each week we have a coaching call. This week, we talked about my struggles with KNOWING what to do versus IMPLEMENTING it. I know how many of you have the same issue - after all, we didn't get to our pre-surgery states by implementing healthy choices, am I right? But even now, I still have that little inner child in me that likes to throw a temper tantrum every time I give her a vegetable instead of a cupcake. So that was something I really needed to work through, and I had such a revelation from last night all the way through this morning.
Last night the revelation hit when I talked about my current state of mind. Well, my state of mind for the last few weeks. Because of the section we'd been going through in the course, I got into the mindset of, "well, I can just eat whatever I want, whenever I want!"
In other words ... I went from one extreme to another.
I like to compare this to a little kid. When mommy and daddy forbid said child from having things like sweets, what happens when they go into a room filled with sweets? They completely gorge themselves! To the point where they make themselves sick! It was like that for me.
I'd told myself for so long, "I can't have {enter food [carbs, sugar, fat] here}" that when I finally realized I CAN have it, I went completely crazy with it! So much so, that I DID make myself sick - I'd been sluggish, fatigued, had digestive issues ... So many things going on in my system. BUT I still continued to eat these foods, KNOWING the effect they had on me.
Now, that's not saying the food is BAD. It's not BAD - it's not the biscuit's fault it's a biscuit! It can't help what it is! It's also not it's fault that my body reacts badly to over-processed gluten. It can't help that. So, to say that it's a "bad food" is an unhealthy thought process. It's personifying the food. Food cannot be personified. It's not fair to the food. Food doesn't have lips - it can't defend itself. FOOD IS NOT THE ENEMY.
What IS the enemy, is denying yourself respect and love.
What IS the enemy, is denying yourself what is BENEFICIAL and only focusing on what is PERMISSIBLE.
For me, everything is permissible (including bread, pasta, rice, sugar, fat, etc...). But it's not beneficial.
What IS beneficial? Asparagus. Fresh watermelon. Broccoli with cheese sauce on the side for dipping. Grilled chicken tossed with olive oil laced with lemon and garlic. See where I'm going with this? These are ALL foods that I absolutely LOVE. I could eat them every single day and be a happy girl! But I've been so stuck in a completely different mentality, that I've been denying my body these things! How is THAT being loving and respectful to myself??
Of course, that doesn't mean that an occasional cupcake is going to kill me. It's not. In fact, the occasional cupcake is probably GOOD for me (as Sponge Bob would say, "It's good for your SOUL"). But the idea that a cupcake every single day (or multiple cupcakes, in my case) is not a healthy thought.
I think that in the Bariatric Community, we have a tendency to really focus on the "all-in/all-out" idea: where we're either all in (eating whatever we want when we want) or all out (not eating ANYTHING we love ever). Both of these mentalities aren't necessarily good ones.
Many of us do need to avoid certain foods - that's not debatable. Foods like refined and processed sugar, rich and fatty foods, carbs like bread and pasta, and lactose can be detrimental for many bariatric patients. So I'm not saying you should allow yourself to have these foods if they're going to hurt you. You need to treat them as you would any other food allergy! But it's important to know that focusing on the BENEFICIAL is so much better than focusing on the negatives!
So, think about this - what foods do you love that are beneficial? Comment below, or go visit our Facebook Group to join in the discussion!
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